Ideas on how to get a 150# water heater into the attic?

How do you pros go about getting a 50 gal water heater thats weighs 150lbs into a attic?

I have a staircase inside a 1 story house in the hallway and the water heater is 3 feet from attic opening.
I thought of getting a come along and hook it to the new water heater and the rafters.
Would it be ok to take 2 - 3/4 galvanized T's connected to the hot and cold nipples with a large bolt running though the T's so I can hook the come along hook to? Would this damage the tank?

So just a copper flex line is strong enough to hold it on the come along?

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I'm not going to guarantee that.
I do it. But then I do lots of things that can't be done too.
Lot's of times I just use a flex that is going to be tossed anyway.
I like the fact that there is some give to it, and that it makes a nice handle for my hand.
If you can have someone below helping a bit, that's even better.

How do you pros go about getting a 50 gal water heater thats weighs 150lbs into a attic?

I have a staircase inside a 1 story house in the hallway and the water heater is 3 feet from attic opening.
I thought of getting a come along and hook it to the new water heater and the rafters.
Would it be ok to take 2 - 3/4 galvanized T's connected to the hot and cold nipples with a large bolt running though the T's so I can hook the come along hook to? Would this damage the tank?

I'm glad we have VERY few basements, and VERY few heaters in the attic around here. It could end up like a supply house years ago. They had a shaft where they used a hoist to lift items up to the higher levels. A new guy was getting a cast iron bathtub down from the third floor and tied the cable through the wooden slats at the end, instead of through the waste and overflow holes. When the staples pulled out and the tub hit the clay tile pipe and fittings in the basement, it sounded like an atomic bomb had gone off. There wasn't much of the tub's enameled finish left either.

If I had a gas WH, I'd probably install a WAGS valve when replacing it...it shuts both the gas and water off if it starts to leak. www.wagsvalve.com No power, it's all mechanical. Uses the same type of actuator that triggers the inflation of safety floatation vests used on airplanes - all it needs is to get wet and a spring and switch does the rest.

I would get a friend or neighbor or two to help me if I didn't feel I could do it myself. I would be afraid of yanking out some structural member through some mishap with your chain and strap. And yes as an apprentice it's me doing it, with a song in my heart.

It's just like carrying a drunken fat chick up a flight of stairs, it's not moving Cheops.

If you're replacing 7 year old water heaters, you need to more aggressively insulate it and the pipes to keep the condensation from eating it up again.